According to infertility experts, easily accessible websites and donor-finding agencies have brought foreign sperm and egg donors just a click away from Indian couples. Priyanka Vora reports.

In May, a Delhi-based couple in their forties had twins through a surrogate mother, who carried an embryo created from the husband’s sperm and eggs from a ‘white’ donor.

The couple wanted a donor with ‘very fair’ skin, but as someone with such special physical attributes was not available on Indian databases, the couple decided to look abroad for Caucasian or ‘white’ egg donors.

Through a foreign agency, the couple contacted a young unma-rried woman from the West, who came to a Mumbai clinic and donated her eggs.

She was paid about Rs. 8 lakh — a package that included cost of her stay, food and travel. The fertilised embryo was then transferred to an Indian surrogate who delivered the baby.

“The husband is very fair and they wanted to have a fair child. We could not get an egg donor who could match the husband’s complexion and, hence, a Caucasian donor was selected,” said Dr Duru Shah, who runs a private clinic at Peddar Road. “The donor is a student who wanted to fund her nursing course and so agreed.”

According to infertility experts, easily accessible websites and donor-finding agencies have brought foreign sperm and egg donors just a click away from Indian couples.